I Like Sour Things
I Like Sour Things
In my previous life, I was pretty fond of lemons.
The reason wasn't anything special. Maybe I just liked that distinctive sour taste, or maybe eating them as a kid because people said they were healthy had turned into a habit.
Anyway, I enjoyed sour flavours. That tartness you can't easily get from other foods stimulated my taste buds.
Of course, that didn't mean I chomped down on lemons raw.
No matter how much I liked sour things, lemons were just too tart, weren't they?
The way I usually ate them was to coat the lemon lightly in sugar, or douse a drink with a ton of lemon juice.
Back when I would spray lemon juice into a cola while sitting at my computer, that was pure heaven... I even felt a little nostalgic for it.
Anyway, the reason I suddenly brought this up is.
Because the bra I was holding right now was also giving off a faintly sour scent.
Well... the weather was heading into summer, and in that weather she'd practically sprinted. Of course she was sweaty.
And her chest area, well... it looked like heat would gather a lot there, didn't it. One side of the bra was nearly as big as my head. I briefly sniffed the bra in Seere's hand.
Sniff sniff.
"Aaaaargh! No, why are you smelling it?! Give it here!!!"
At that, she screamed as if going berserk. Ha-neul's hands urgently reached for the underwear.
But a mere magic-wielder couldn't possibly match my reflexes.
I leisurely dodged her hands.
So the 'women' here really did get embarrassed when their underwear was exposed.
Actually, it was a natural reaction.
If my own sweat-dampened underwear ended up in someone else's hands, I'd feel embarrassed first too. It was an unavoidable psychological reaction for anyone human.
'...Whoa, shit.'
Still, once I thought about it from her perspective, I could roughly imagine just how mortifying this must be for her.
First, to ease her embarrassment, I did offer some comfort.
"It's okay. Anyone can sweat a bit when they run. Wow, but you really do wear large ones, huh? Hmm, with them being big, it's only natural they get sweaty easily."
"Kyaaaaak!"
For some reason, when I comforted her she just screamed.
Maybe because she was an introvert, she seemed to get embarrassed easily. Well, I could understand that.
Honestly, I wanted to tease her a bit more here, but I didn't have much time to spare, so I had no choice but to return her underwear.
She snatched her underwear back in a hurry, then fastened her brassiere with practised movements. The sight of her putting on her underwear with her face as red as a carrot... hmm, yeah, honestly, it was kind of a turn-on. I was a man, after all.
'What a truly remarkable ability.'
I thought that to myself to shift my attention.
To think he could take not just weapons but something as trivial as this.
Before that guy, even armor was useless.
In fact, the more powerful the tool you held, the stranger the experience you might have of being pushed back yourself.
Then, suddenly, a horrifying thought flashed through my head.
Wait. If so, didn't that mean he could have stripped my clothes off during the fight earlier?
'Ah, fuck...'
Seere... a truly terrifying bastard.
I was lucky I hadn't had to experience having my underwear stolen by a faggot like that.
If he had taken my clothes one by one instead of my dagger, I'd have run off into the woods crying my eyes out like a child.
'Come to think of it, what happened to that guy?'
As I was imagining that, the question suddenly occurred to me. I had definitely seen the knights chasing after him at the end.
Had they caught him, maybe?
Of course, even as I thought that, I didn't have high expectations.
He was a Great Demon, after all. It wasn't that the knights were weak; it was clear that a bastard like him wouldn't be easy to catch if he was determined to flee.
So I was just hoping a little, inside.
Hoping that no great harm would reach me, if possible.
*
"Huff... huff..."
...He had been lucky.
Having barely escaped outside the city, Seere could only think that.
Bringing so many cult believers to the back alley had been a good call.
Among the believers, there were many in high ranks like Team Leaders and Zone Leaders. They could at least hold back even knights to some extent.
Especially the Otherworlder believers, who had served as a barricade without sparing their own bodies.
That was why Seere had been able to slip away despite the desperate pursuit.
Of course, he was not in a normal state either. Countless arrows were stuck in his back like a porcupine's spines, and his whole body was covered in gashes.
On top of that, one arm had been severed by Yor.
It was only thanks to a demon's tenacious vitality that he was clinging to life; outwardly, he was practically half a corpse.
The Branch Leader who had been waiting outside the city saw him and exclaimed in shock.
"Lord Seere, what on earth happened? I will treat you immediately!"
"No need. My body is different from you humans'. If I rest, it will heal."
Though it would take some time, of course.
Especially his lost left arm throbbed. To think he had actually been dismembered.
'I can forget about using my left arm for a while...'
Other parts might heal, but it was clear the left arm would not regenerate.
A demon's body was special. Until he reclaimed his severed left arm, he had no choice but to live as a one-armed being.
Seere spoke with a stiff face.
"I discovered an incredibly powerful Manifestor."
Seere briefly explained what had happened in the city.
From meeting the Manifestor in the back alley to nearly suffering disaster during the fight.
A gleam appeared in the Branch Leader's eyes as she listened.
To Seere, the Manifestor had become a thoroughly unwelcome presence, but to the Cult, Manifestors were extraordinarily important talents.
They were beings who could directly contact demons and offer sacrifices remotely.
For that reason, within Lemegeton, a Manifestor held a position akin to a saint or holy woman.
And if they were even said to possess skill, the Branch Leader's eyes were bound to turn greedy.
Honestly, Seere wasn't terribly pleased about it, but either way, he needed the Cult's help to catch the bastard.
Whether to recruit him here or offer him as a sacrifice, he had to do one of the two.
So he conveyed information about the opponent to the Cult.
"A man with brown hair and blue eyes. There is a high probability he lives nearby. Do not spread word to the outside; we must find him first and capture him alive."
Although the information was slightly wrong.
*
A raid boss named Seere had appeared in the city.
Naturally, the news spread at lightning speed through the community.
After all, a demon had appeared in one of the major cities of a nation called the Empire.
It was only natural for an uproar to ensue.
And of course, the news that Seere had been pushed to the brink of annihilation also spread.
Along with the information that at the center of it all was some hooded NPC of unknown identity.
It wasn't even a video, but a single photo had been taken.
A photo of the hooded NPC slicing off Seere's left arm with a mere dagger.
At the time, players had swarmed the scene as well, and among them, one quick-witted player had sensed a chance at a featured post and taken a screenshot.
Of course, the photo went up on the internet, and true to the player's hopes, it set the community ablaze.
+
[Isn't Seere actually weak as hell?]
A so-called Great Demon getting wrecked by some random NPC in the slums lololol
+
[Turns out the whole demon thing was just a bubble lmao]
[Holy shit, I didn't think they'd straight-up slice his arm off without mercy]
[↳ fr, he's one of the few hot-as-fuck male characters, too T_T]
[↳ Look, the devs seriously persecute male characters]
[But honestly, doesn't being one-armed make him hotter?]
[↳??]
[↳ Dude]
+
[But where the hell did that hooded NPC come from?]
Pops out of nowhere, cuts off Lord Seere's arm, and bolts, ffs
Just show yourself in front of me, I'll wreck you for sure
+
[Lemegeton, get in the van]
[But is that NPC a guy or a girl? The hood covers their whole body so I can't tell]
[↳ idk, looking at the build might be a guy...]
[↳ Oh]
[↳ 'Oh,' my ass]
+
[Anyway, isn't this seriously hot as fuck?]
(Video)
This is a clip shot when the hooded guy ran away and the knights were chasing Seere
The way Seere frowns and runs every time a knight hits him, why is it so pitiful and hot, haa...
He definitely went back to the Cult and secretly shed tears, right?
I want to drink Seere's tears and comfort him in secret...
Can't help it, already jacked it to this a few times, gonna go squeeze one more out right now
+
[Dude, please, just stop;]
[The Han River isn't far, go find it and jump in]
[You're Lemegeton too, you fucking degenerate]
[↳ As expected, bullshit is best from Leme-leps lmaooo]
[↳ I'm a Lemegeton believer, don't blame our cult for shit like that, ffs, jeez;]
[Gonna nominate this for featured, hehe]
The atmosphere was utterly peaceful.
Like those who dwell on the internet, they were busily continuing their discussion on a topic that had arisen after a long while.
Thankfully, no one was connecting the hooded NPC to Yor.
There were many, many NPCs in [Demon's Saga], and since that meant you never knew when or where a powerful figure might pop up.
People might be curious about the NPC's identity, but no one was digging deep.
Before that, the tease of Seere himself had already seized nearly all of the community's attention.
...But one person, just one.
Someone who met Yor especially often and talked to him often could see something else.
You know how it is, if you see someone dozens of times, their general outline becomes somewhat familiar.
Yoo Chae-rin zoomed in on the photo of the hooded NPC and thought.
"...This looks oddly similar, doesn't it?"
To the build of someone she knew.