I'm Curious Too
I'm Curious Too
Several days had already passed since my life-and-death struggle with Seere.
Fortunately, nothing eventful happened during that time.
No visitors came calling either, apart from one person. And no monsters kicked up a fuss.
Thanks to that, I had been able to recover at home from the fatigue I had built up in the city.
The moment I arrived home, exhaustion washed over me—whether from the fighting or from all the stimulation I had experienced in the city.
It reminded me once again that home was the best place to relax.
As for Seere's Left Arm, which I had claimed as a trophy from that fight, I had stowed it away deep in storage for now.
'The ability itself is really good...'
But it was just too awkward to use.
The effect was impressive, but the restrictions were equally clear.
First, after using it, I had to wait about ten minutes before I could activate it again. I couldn't use it endlessly like Seere had.
And that wasn't all. To pull something toward me, it needed to be within a certain range.
Range-wise, it was about fifteen meters centered on me. Not exactly short, but not long either.
From what I remembered, Seere hadn't seemed to have those restrictions. The arm must have degraded after being severed from his body.
Still, being part of a demon's body, it apparently didn't rot.
That was a real relief. If the bastard's left hand had rotted and become infested with maggots, I would have thrown it away regardless of its ability.
Of course, the fact that it was shaped like a hand was uncomfortable too. It was awkward to carry around and equally awkward to hang anywhere.
'Is there any way to process it?'
But honestly, all those drawbacks were cute when stacked against one remaining flaw.
The problem was that I couldn't use this item in front of other people.
Seere wasn't dead, so if word got out that I had his arm, the demon would undoubtedly come hunting for it with murder in his eyes.
And since it was a demonic object to begin with, there was a chance the knights would come storming in as well.
So, in the end, the item was a classic white elephant—you had it, but you couldn't actually use it. Naturally, off to storage it had to go.
Today, too, my storage grew that much richer.
Although the past several days had been peaceful, that didn't mean I had been free of unease.
After causing such a huge commotion in the city, I had also accumulated plenty of questions.
Come to think of it, were the knights searching for me now?
I had concealed my face, but I had still sliced off Seere's arm and returned. Since talented people were so valuable to them, they might come looking for me.
What was that cult called Lemegeton up to?
Now that they knew I was a Manifestor, those bastards must have been scrambling around too.
Given the reaction of that guy named Lian whom I had killed before, Manifestors seemed pretty important to that cult.
I could run through all sorts of theories in my head.
The downside, unfortunately, was that they remained guesses in the end.
Stuck here, my view of the outside world was severely limited.
What was worse, thanks to this incident, sneaking out in disguise had become more complicated.
I could change my hair and eye color, but I couldn't alter my build. Frustrating as it was, I had no choice but to lie low in the forest for a while.
The fortunate part was that I had one person who could act as my eyes and ears.
"I'm here!"
Speak of the devil. There was my information supplier now.
As soon as she arrived, I asked her about several things I was curious about.
Seere's current whereabouts, the mysterious hooded figure who'd recently appeared in the city, the public mood, and so on.
Naturally, I kept any information about myself tightly under wraps.
There was no need to let anyone else know I had deliberately gone into the city.
It probably wouldn't have mattered if I told her, but there was no reason to increase the number of people who knew.
But what came out of her mouth next genuinely caught me off guard.
"Ah, you mean that hooded NPC? There's no need to hide it. I already know that you went into the city recently and kicked up a fuss, Yor."
"...Huh?"
She already knew?
*
Although she'd reconsidered her opinion of Yor somewhat—
Chae-rin hadn't really progressed beyond showing up frequently. Nothing more.
She was cheerful and sociable, yes, but she was just as lacking in romantic experience as Ha-neul.
Consequently, even when she wanted to try something more, she had no idea how to go about it.
Still, she figured it was better not to keep secrets, so she'd openly told him the truth.
She told him she knew the hooded NPC who'd recently set the community ablaze was Yor. She also gave him the shortest possible version of how she'd figured it out.
"...Is that so?"
At first, he'd shown a faint hint of surprise, but he'd quickly collected himself and nodded.
Internally, of course, he was still reeling.
What kind of gut instinct let someone figure it out that fast? he wondered.
Yes, they did see each other often, so she was familiar with his build, but even so, her powers of observation were almost frightening.
Still, he was relieved to see she didn't seem to have any intention of telling other people.
"Anyway, I'm the only one who's noticed, so you can put your mind at ease."
With that, Chae-rin wrapped up that particular thread.
Then, just for a moment, she turned her focus inward.
Thump—thump—
She could feel her heartbeat pick up ever so slightly.
It wasn't that she felt butterflies or anything.
...Well, maybe there was a little of that too, but right now there was a bigger, more physical reason for it.
With the passage of time, the weather had already shifted into early summer.
And because of that, Yor's clothing had grown a fair bit thinner as well.
Of course his basic getup of short sleeves and shorts hadn't changed... but the fabric itself was definitely lighter.
And as a result, the contours of his body were showing with unnerving clarity.
Chae-rin threw a sidelong glance at him and thought to herself.
'He's actually got abs...'
Well, no—honestly, she had expected as much.
But seeing the outline in reality, the visual impact was something else entirely.
'Does he seriously have no idea...?'
She fanned her burning face while her thoughts spun.
Maybe because he had the skill to slice clean through Seere's wrist, he seemed utterly devoid of any caution whatsoever.
What was there to be scared of when, even if someone jumped him, he could absolutely destroy them all?
Normally, when a "man" wore clothes that thin, he'd at least have the decency to get embarrassed.
Thanks to that, everyone around him was left struggling just to keep their eyes to themselves.
Even though she fiercely denied having any particular attraction to an NPC, Chae-rin was still a hot-blooded "woman" all the same.
A physical sort of curiosity was always lurking somewhere in a corner of her heart.
Fine... it was crass, but she might as well come clean.
'I want to do it too!'
19+ Mode!!!
The truth was, stories about experiencing "19+ Mode" popped up on community forums pretty regularly.
Someone said they seduced a country youth and unlocked "19+ Mode." Someone else said they rescued an NPC who'd been captured by a bandit hideout and got to experience "19+ Mode." Things like that.
In some extreme cases, recorded videos of "19+ Mode" would even end up on underground sites.
Every time, users responded by mashing the dislike button out of mingled envy and jealousy.
The last case in particular got people cursed out in bucketloads on account of some obvious ethical violations.
But anyway, the curiosity was irrepressible. It was a feature the developers had gone to all the trouble of creating—wasn't it only right to enjoy it?
'M-maybe I should show some chest...?'
She pondered it for a moment. Even in this sort of world, a "woman's" breasts were a similar charm point.
But the thought was fleeting, and she shook her head right after.
'No, no.'
That kind of one-dimensional seduction could actually lower a "man's" opinion of you, as had been proven many times. At worst, he could write her off as trashy.
Countless anonymous stories scattered across the internet had already attested to that.
'Agh... Yeah, who am I to think I can seduce anyone.'
After all that back-and-forth, Chae-rin finally let out a sigh and gave up.
For someone as hopelessly inexperienced as her, seducing the opposite sex was an utterly alien concept.
She settled for quietly passing along information.
"...First off, don't worry. The knights don't have the slightest interest in that hooded person from before."
To be precise, they couldn't afford to be interested.
The Knight Order was far too busy to investigate a hidden master. Between hunting Lemegeton and pursuing the escaped Seere, even ten bodies would not have been enough.
The Lemegeton side, on the other hand, was reportedly showing intense interest.
They were even said to be lurking around the Empire's vicinity, risking capture in the process.
"Maybe it's because someone cut off the arm of the demon they serve? They've practically got bloodshot eyes over it. Still, it doesn't look as if this forest has crossed their radar just yet..."
"Hmm..."
Yor nodded.
He'd expected Lemegeton would throw a fit, but hearing it was still a bitter pill to swallow.
The one saving grace was that the bastards hadn't exposed the fact that he was a Manifestor.
If they'd spilled that as well, there was no way Chae-rin wouldn't have asked him about it.
'What a headache.'
Would they eventually start snooping around the forest too? He sincerely hoped that day would take its time coming.
For now, he'd shove that worry into a corner of his mind. Yor extended a hand to Chae-rin.
Per their arrangement, she owed him something.
"So. Did you get the Holy Water?"
His supply of Holy Water had already been running low recently.
With Berserk A flaring up back to back lately, his Holy Water stock had been draining at an alarming rate.
At his question, she nodded and opened her Inventory.
"Ah, yes. Here you go."
After accepting the item, Yor's face pinched into a scowl.
"What the—hey, are you joking? This is all there is? Why is it only two?"
At a passing glance, it might look like he was shaking her down, but Yor had, strictly speaking, paid her both money and a service fee.
"Calm down! I worked my butt off running around trying to scrape these together too! Haven't you heard that Holy Water has gotten insanely scarce lately thanks to all this demon business?"
"What?"
Yor pricked up his ears.
According to her, the entire kingdom was now furiously buying up Holy Water.
Since Holy Water was supposedly lethal against demons, everyone was stocking up in advance to prepare for the future.
As a result, the price of Holy Water had reportedly skyrocketed these days.
'...Hell.'
To Yor, this news hit like a bolt from the blue.
He'd been cheesing his way right through Berserk A with Holy Water all this time.
Without Holy Water, didn't that mean he'd have to grit his teeth through that agony once more?
He still had a few bottles saved up as reserves, but even those wouldn't last long.
When Yor's face turned gravely serious, Chae-rin tried her best to console him.
"But seriously, don't worry. I'll run myself ragged trying to find more for you. And I doubt the demand is going to stay this sky-high forever."
Yor nodded.
...But contrary to his hopes, the supply of Holy Water never bounced back, no matter how much time passed.
"...This is it?"
By the following month, Yor had received a grand total of one more bottle of Holy Water.
"...You're telling me none? Not a single one?"
The month after that, he couldn't get a single drop of Holy Water at all.
That was because the knight order had signed a fixed-purchase contract for the entire supply.
A flustered Chae-rin rushed to speak.
"J-just hold on a little longer! I'm sure the stock will free up eventually...!"
"Hoo..."
Yor fired off a string of curses inside his head.
'Seere, you son of a bitch...'
If he'd known it would come to this, he should have made absolutely sure to sever the bastard's neck that day.
He found himself hoping the news of Seere's demise would reach his ears as soon as possible.
And so, a few more days trickled by.
Some news did arrive.
Though it wasn't about Seere, it was more than enough to make the whole world jump in shock.
It had now been over two months since Yor's fight with Seere.
And the time since the launch of [Demon's Saga] would soon be closing in on a full year.
In celebration of the first anniversary, the developers posted a notice.
[Ver 02. Update Notes]
The patch notes.