Donation
Donation
First, I apologized.
"No, whew... I'm sorry. Forget what I just said. I'm a little on edge right now."
"Ah... no. It's fine."
I'd snapped at her for a moment, but I knew acting on my emotions was a bad habit.
She'd gone out of her way to come all the way here, and my attitude just now was far from good.
After pulling myself together, I told her to come inside.
Honestly, I wasn't in any state to receive guests right now, but something about sending her straight back didn't sit right with me.
As I walked deeper into the cave, I could feel her gaze on me.
Her eyes were full of worry. Obviously quite curious, her mouth kept opening and closing.
That went on for a moment before she couldn't hold back her curiosity any longer and cautiously asked me.
"Um... did something happen yesterday?"
Usually, she knew I disliked it and didn't ask many questions, but she must have been especially curious this time.
I supposed so. Even I'd ask what happened first if someone covered in blood appeared in front of me.
I gave a rough answer.
"Period."
"... Huh?"
"I said I had my period."
"...?"
Was that wrong?
It happened about once a month, and there's blood, so roughly similar, I figured.
She tilted her head as if she had no idea what I meant, but that was the best answer I could give.
I couldn't explain Berserk in the first place, and right now I didn't have the energy to entertain a guest at all.
I headed into the cave, mulling it over inwardly.
'So what do I do with her now...?'
I'd let her in, but I had no strength left to deal with her.
My mind was hazy, and my body felt as heavy as lead. In short, I was extremely tired right now.
I'd been up all night thanks to Berserk, and I'd completely drained my mental and physical stamina.
Normally, the rule was to sleep the entire day after Berserk passed.
That was the only way to get back to normal, after all.
'Should I just have her stand guard...?'
So I briefly entertained that thought.
The truth was, because of the blood scent, monsters sometimes wandered into my cave.
Since the blood came from the innermost depths, the smell didn't spread far, but a monster's sense of smell was beyond imagination.
Thanks to that, I'd had a few experiences with monsters attacking while I slept. I managed to wake up and save my life each time, but the anxiety was still there.
Of course, having someone else nearby while I slept was also uncomfortable, but...
'Hmm...'
Which left me briefly mired in indecision.
Was it better to send her off and sleep with defenses up?
Or should I set a guard and at least sleep somewhat comfortably?
Fortunately, the dilemma didn't last long.
I asked her.
"Do you want to do a job?"
*
A short while later.
"If anyone comes, wake me right away. Oh, and absolutely do not go any further inside."
"Yes, yes."
"And just so you know, don't try anything funny. I'm a light sleeper."
"Look. I can't beat you anyway, so what would I even do? Just go wash up and get some sleep."
"...Fine. You can turn on your stream if you're bored."
Chae-rin accepted the escort mission from Yor.
Surprisingly, it was because a quest had popped up again. The objective was to guard the vicinity until Yor woke up. The quest reward was a modest stipend.
A truly simple task, so there was nothing to hesitate over.
And even if there hadn't been a quest, she'd planned to grant his request anyway.
Because right now, he looked so utterly exhausted and precarious.
She thought with a troubled expression.
'What on earth happened yesterday...?'
She'd come planning to chatter about the arena with a grin, but who'd have thought she'd see him covered in blood the moment she arrived? It was obvious at a glance that something had happened last night.
There were no visible wounds on his body, but the amount of blood on him was practically enough to juice a whole person. She could see his complexion was terribly bad, and he looked exhausted, too.
To be honest, when she first saw him, she nearly fainted from shock.
The only reason she hadn't fallen backward was purely because her body locked up.
That was how shocking a sight it had been.
But when she finally worked up the courage to ask, the answer he gave... was a period.
"Hmm..."
After mulling it over for a bit, she just turned on the stream.
Even though it was a sudden morning broadcast, viewers flooded in. That was a sign of how much her channel had grown.
[oh]
[YorHa]
[Eh?]
[what's with the morning stream?]
Watching the viewers greet her, she asked seriously.
"Hey, guys. Do men... get periods too?"
[?]
[mf out here spouting nonsense the second she turns on stream lol]
[the hell do you think, goddammit]
[plz be understanding~ our host is just a virgin who's never met a man~]
[didn't even go to elementary school lol]
In response to her question, the chat window launched a real-time volley of insults. Chae-rin nodded as she watched it.
"Mm-hmm."
Normally, that would be a level of chat worthy of a timeout, but she wasn't remotely offended.
After all, hadn't she just confirmed her common sense wasn't wrong?
'So something really did happen, then...?'
That only deepened her curiosity.
What was even more frustrating was that she couldn't ask any further here.
He had a particular tendency to dodge questions about himself. She couldn't help but know he was carrying a lot of secrets, whether she liked it or not.
And honestly... she felt like if she questioned him while he was in this state, she might actually get beaten.
'Agh, whatever.'
After mulling it over for a moment, she decided to let it go.
She was hugely curious, but there was no way to find out anyway. She just thought to herself that maybe her curiosity would be satisfied later when an opportunity arose.
"You turned on the stream?"
Just as she'd sorted out her thoughts alone, he'd returned before she knew it.
He'd washed up, just as he'd said earlier.
The blood-soaked appearance was gone without a trace, and he looked clean.
[sudden stream and now Yor daaamn]
[is today some kind of holiday?]
[YorHa]
[did he just shower or why's his hair so wet lol]
[Wet Yor daaamn]
[oh dear]
"Then I'm going to sleep. Keep a good watch."
[says he's sleeping?]
[but it's morning...?]
[he does look pretty tired though]
[I know how to sleep a bit too lolol]
[shall we sleep together? heh]
At the sight of Yor looking more defenseless than usual, the chat briefly erupted. Chae-rin, unable to watch any longer, said something.
"Hey, be a little nicer in chat, okay. You think I don't know how to use the ban hammer?"
Turning on the stream so early in the morning had been the issue.
Perhaps because her mod was still asleep at this hour, the viewers' brakes were a little broken. Still, at her restraint, they calmed down somewhat.
[so what're you gonna do today?]
As Yor retreated deeper into the cave, the viewers asked her.
Watching them, Chae-rin briefly edited the stream title.
It was just a laid-back chatting stream, but the more viewers, the better.
So to draw as much aggro as possible...
[This and That While Yor Sleeps.avi]
Well, it wasn't wrong.
*
7 hours since Yor had fallen asleep.
During that time, to kill time, she'd done all sorts of things, just like the stream title said.
It was called an escort quest, but to be honest, there wasn't much to do.
I mean, no monsters stormed in, and there weren't bandits like on a carriage escort mission.
In fact, she almost felt guilty... like, was it really okay to get a quest for free like this?
So she decided to do whatever she could while Yor slept.
She cleaned up some of the blood he'd dripped onto the floor, chatted aimlessly with the viewers, and even took preserved food out of her inventory to lightly boil some soup.
Who'd have thought her experience living alone would shine here.
Of course, every time she did this, the viewers clamored for her to just shut up and go into Yor's room, but she just ignored them. She didn't want her neck to get sliced off.
As a guest, the radius in which she could wander wasn't very wide.
Still, she could tell the cave was spacious.
Seeing how he lived, it seemed there were bathing facilities inside, and a supply storage too.
Everything a person needed to live was there.
"..."
She deliberately ignored the faint blood scent wafting from further within. It was obvious at a glance that the atmosphere reeked of things she wasn't supposed to know.
'... Well, he probably just chopped up some monsters? Right?'
She just covered her curiosity with thoughts like that.
After 2 more hours passed like that. Yor finally woke up.
She could see him approaching from afar, rubbing his eyes. It was plain to see he still wasn't fully awake. Chae-rin looked at him and spoke.
"You're still tired even after sleeping that long? You can sleep more."
"... It's fine. The sun will set soon, and you need to head back too."
At that, Chae-rin looked outside.
A soft orange glow was settling over the forest. It meant the sunset was spreading across the sky.
In just a few more hours, it would probably be full night.
Chae-rin gave a slight bitter smile.
'I'll have to bring up the arena story later...'
It was a little disappointing, but it couldn't be helped. She had no confidence in heading back at night.
"Let's go. I'll escort you."
At Yor's words, Chae-rin nodded.
She could go back alone, but having him along gave her an entirely different level of reassurance.
Rather than going alone with Stealth on, hiding here and there, it was more comfortable having him guard her while she strolled out leisurely.
And they could chat lightly on the way.
After lightly drinking the soup, Chae-rin and Yor headed out of the cave.
Fortunately, no monsters jumped them.
It was late afternoon, and lately, the aggro of the monsters in this forest had been dispersed across various places.
After walking out through the forest for a good while, they spotted a group up ahead.
"Oh, found them!"
"Wow, this forest is pretty samey all over, I guess? It was crazy hard to find you."
They were Otherworlders, just like Chae-rin.
It had already been a year since [Demon's Saga] launched. During that time, the average level of users had risen considerably.
And with that, the number of people challenging the 'Forbidden Forest' had increased quite a lot too.
Of course, even still, only a mere 5% managed to reach the middle layer... but put another way, even 5% were reaching it now.
As a result, the forest had been a bit bustling recently.
Sometimes when wandering the forest, you could even spot items users had dropped when they died.
In a sense, Yor's prediction had been right on the mark.
"Hello, I'm a fan."
"Here's a gift."
And these particular Otherworlders they met this time were viewers of Chae-rin's stream.
The moment they saw Yor, they pulled bread out of their inventories and handed it over.
"...?"
Yor, who'd been eyeing them warily, accepted the bread with a dumbfounded look.
Sugar-coated donuts.
"Hey, hey, let's get out fast. I'm about to die from zero mana."
"We'll be off then. Keep up the great streams~."
And with that, the viewers who'd made their real-life(?) donation coolly left the forest.
A few more similar incidents happened after that.
Viewers who somehow managed to locate Yor came up and acted familiar with him.
Each time, Yor either received some kind of gift, or was asked for an autograph.
"...?"
Yor wore an ambiguous expression.
What the hell, it felt like he'd become a zoo monkey for the first time in a while.
He was happy to get gifts, but it gave him a weird, uneasy feeling.
He stared at Chae-rin with a blank face.
She answered with an awkward expression.
"Ahaha, amazing, isn't it...?"
"Hey, were there always that many strong people among your viewers?"
"I know, right... I find it a little amazing myself."
Seeing Yor's uneasy face, Chae-rin checked the chat window and said something.
She told them that while she was grateful from the heart, it could be burdensome, so please stop visiting them.
For now, only relatively kind-hearted viewers had passed by, but who knew when some sketchy viewer might show up. Not all people were normal, after all.
But regardless, they kept moving forward.
And not long after reining in the viewers, they encountered two more people.
The moment she spotted them, Chae-rin tried to say something.
"No, we're grateful from the heart, but please stop visiting—"
And that was when it happened.
Clunk.
Yor blocked Chae-rin's path. Chae-rin looked at him for a moment.
His amber eyes were brimming with wariness.
Soon, he asked in a menacing tone.
"What are you."
Chae-rin didn't know, but right now, a window had appeared before Yor's eyes.
A window completely different from all the viewers they'd met so far.
[Conditions not met!]
[Target is incompatible with 'Player's Eye'!]
In other words, those people were not Otherworlders.