The Maria Kidnapping Incident (1)

Whoa, she’s seriously huge… The girl, taller than my fully grown height, smiled and spoke.

“Whoa— you’re still tiny.”

“Y-Yes…”

Honorifics slipped out automatically. She wasn’t someone I could take on with self-defense techniques. Her physique alone would crush me…

But why is this noona’s NTR progress already this high from the start?

An overwhelming difference compared to everyone else…

Don’t tell me this noona actually liked me…? I should test it.

“Noona, it’s been a while!”

“U-Uh…?!

When I suddenly dove into her massive chest, she looked quite flustered. Despite her size, she was extremely shy.

She’s got a cute side to her.

Huh…? It jumped way too much in one go.

Evie Gwell character search—

Whoa… So all that muscle was because of the curse? Stats and muscle mass are unrelated, huh.

Every human awakens. Normally, awakening happens before age fifteen. There are rare cases where the mana curse awakens alongside it. That’s Evie noona’s case.

The mana curse is known as an incurable disease, but there is one method. The only way, yet the protagonist never chose it even though he could. The protagonist’s secret dungeon, the Fountain of Hypnosis. It’s the source of the protagonist’s hypnosis skill. Strictly speaking, the protagonist’s hypnosis isn’t hypnosis at all.

It’s because of the Fountain of Hypnosis potion from the hypnosis gate…

Clearing that gate drops the essence of the fountain, which can cure mana curses.

However, to use the hypnosis skill, he needed the fountain water, so he never cleared the gate. That’s the kind of bastard the protagonist is.

But why does this redhead keep acting so rude? She was shy at first, but now she’s getting more and more shameless.

“If your skills are low, you’ve gotta do at least this much.”

She’s openly messing with me right in front of my face when noona isn’t looking.

Wasn’t she shy at the beginning? Well, maybe she hated me from the start… Seeing how her affection keeps dropping.

“We’re heading in.”

“Take care~”

The girls disappeared ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beyond the gate.

“Ria, support me with magic! I can handle this much alone.”

“Okay! Fireball!”

Against the pouring monsters, they made a pretty well-coordinated team. Even in the academy, the strong ones gathered together.

The ultimate tank with overwhelming physique, the top dealer who’s a master of swordsmanship, and an excellent mage supporting them all.

You could call them the strongest party among the second-years.

“Let’s take a break after this one.”

“Yeah, sounds good. Hup!”

They extracted the cores from the remaining byproducts. Those sold for the most money.

“Let’s eat lunch first.”

“Your little brother packed this?”

“How good could something made by a kid possibly taste?”

“Don’t say that and just eat, Maria.”

“Hah, our ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠maid at home is way bett—mmph!”

Evie shoved kimbap into Maria’s mouth as she was about to keep talking.

“Mmph, cough cough…”

Evie and Maria bickered with each other. The fact that her little brother made lunch for her was pretty thoughtful. She probably didn’t actually hate it but just didn’t show it.

But it wasn’t just thoughtful—the food was genuinely delicious. It was on a completely different level from takeout or convenience store lunches. It tasted like proper home cooking.

“Wow… Your brother can cook?”

“No… He’s in the academy’s swordsmanship class.”

It wasn’t just me who thought it was tasty. Evie and Maria were also eating with genuine enjoyment. Before long, the lunchbox was empty.

“Whew… Should I just marry your brother?”

“Don’t joke around…”

Why was it so delicious? The taste of the lunchbox lingered in my mouth throughout the entire hunt.

I handed the lunchbox to noona and caught the bus home. It was a quiet morning. The weather was nice, and there were no other passengers, so I could sit comfortably. The breeze coming through the window wasn’t bad either.

Lucy’s value has been steadily rising for days now. She’ll probably exceed 60 soon.

Fifteen days until the new semester. Not much time. I need to get as strong as possible to stand a chance against the protagonist.

The protagonist grows stronger the more heroines he sleeps with. Right now, we’re at the very beginning of the novel. He’s probably only slept with three heroines at most… I can still compete.

Oh… What ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a useful skill.

System, open heroine list—

Pretty convenient ability.

Vacation’s almost over now—

So I need to use every means possible to get stronger. I should make a concrete plan.

First, I need to destroy that thing.

The protagonist is an idiot who dooms the world by only sleeping with pretty heroines.

As gates keep increasing, he uses young and powerful S-rank hunters as his playthings instead of building proper defenses, so when gates burst open, unstoppable monsters pour out and the world ends.

While they built their own forces and turned their paradise into a harem playground, only low-rank hunters died outside.

What a joke… Before the protagonist crossed into this novel world, he was a loser in school, then a jobless bum who died jerking off.

That idiot came to another world, had sex for the first time in his life, and threw the world away to die.

Later, he tried to sleep with every woman from demons to the Demon King herself, and died when his paradise collapsed. That’s the ending.

Honestly, the protagonist’s ability is broken. Even I don’t know what I’d do if I had that skill…

Noona returned from hunting.

While I was washing up and eating with noona before going to bed, the phone rang.

Ria, Maria hasn’t come home yet—

“What?”

The urgent voice on the other end made me wonder what was wrong. She might just be playing late…

“I’ll go look for her.”

Noona grabbed the phone and tried to head out.

“Go to sleep.”

“No, what’s wrong?”

“Maria is the Sword Saint’s granddaughter. She’s not the type to wander off.”

Noona was genuinely worried about that girl. Damn, she really has a good friend.

It’s none of my business, but since noona’s worried, I should go find her.

System— tell me Maria’s location and what she’s doing right now.

Unconscious?

Whoosh—

It felt like my body was disappearing. Not magic, but a sense of detachment from the world itself.

The teleport made me slightly dizzy, but I seemed to have arrived properly.

Huh? What’s this smell…?

My head throbbed like it was splitting. It wasn’t a foul stench—this smell was insanely sweet, enough to steal my mind. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠My heart pounded wildly. Thump-thump-thump-thump.

The smell was so intense I nearly lost consciousness. The more I inhaled, the stronger the dizziness became.

“Ugh…”

“Why is it so… hot?”

I collapsed onto the spot and started stripping off my clothes.

“Haa… haa…”

My head felt like it was cracking open, and my heart was suffocating.

System… what kind of poison is this?

What? Aphrodisiacs don’t normally work. They’re just enhancers, not actual libido boosters… But this was the real deal.

My heart raced, my body burned, and my mind felt like it was slipping away. So this is the fantasy element…

Okay, now I can breathe. So this works on me too?

“Shit… So where’s Maria?”

The area was filled with smoke. It was so thick I couldn’t even see right in front of me.

What the hell is going on…

There, collapsed on the ground, was noona’s friend I’d seen earlier that day. Due to the aphrodisiac’s effects, her breathing was irregular even while unconscious, her heart racing, and she seemed feverish.

Her arms and legs were bound, lying on the floor with no consciousness. She looked exactly like the rude girl from this morning, now asleep.

“Hey, wake up!”

Smack!—

I slapped the unconscious girl’s cheek.

“Uuuugh…”